Uncomfortable Distances
by IndespicableThoughts
Summary: Eren Jeager has never stepped a foot outside of his little neighborhood and city which he spent his whole life growing up in. Now with his job on the line, he must travel to Japan, a foreign country hundreds of miles away from his comfortable fort of memories, and his mind slowly spirals into misery where his stomach has agonizing aches that won't seem to go away. Levi/Eren AU


Summary: Eren has never stepped a foot outside of his cozy little neighborhood or city in his entire life. With his job on the line, he must travel to a foreign country hundreds of miles away from his cozy little fort of memories, and his mind slowly spirals into misery where his stomach has agonizing aches that never seem to stop. Enter a man who goes by the name of Levi, a wrestler who has enough money to buy himself a pack of ramen noodles for lunch and whose fists are bandaged since the moment Eren met him.

Pairing/'s: Levi/Eren, any reviewers suggesting a pairing I'll try to add so please feel free to suggest pairings

Rated M in later chapters.

Image belongs to stereowire - post/65926762845/commission-postin-fighter-kickbox er-au-levi

* * *

"You're fired."

"Wait. W-What?"

"Well, you would be. However, I'll give you one last and final chance to do good for this company and save yourself."

Eren had a complete look of shock on his face as the words "fired" entered his head. '_What the hell.' _His thoughts spiralled into madness as he stared at the older man wearing a thick black coat. He stood frozen in front of his company's leader, Erwin Smith. Erwin Smith was as handsome as they come and was very understanding. Everyone in that company wanted that man. However, when their sales or contracts started decreasing he could be quite startling, quite strict, and quite frightening.

Erwin, currently standing near the window overlooking the tinier buildings and city-traffic, turned around to look at the young man, noticing that the boy hadn't answered yet.

"Wait. _What_?" Eren repeated, obviously dumbstruck.

Erwin sighed in exasperation when he realized Eren hadn't really been paying attention. He reprimanded himself quickly. He should've known someone wouldn't have really payed attention after hearing they were fired.

"You're fired, Eren. However, I know that at the time you started working for this company, which was what, 5 months ago, your passion led you to make amazing sales. Sometimes you would get refused or shot-down by other companies, but that didn't stop you. I admired that. Keyword '_admired_'. Which is why it pains me to say you're fired, but Eren, as time went by your passion died down and you began to slack off. Companies stopped considering using us for transportation of their clients and the sort.

That was your specialty. Now, you just drink coffee and stare at your computer screen with dead eyes and it's obvious you'd rather be six-feet under the ground than sitting in this prestigious workplace.. I can't have that."

Eren blinked in shock and proceeded to look down in shame. He knew he'd been doing a horrible job at keeping up the good work, but he couldn't help it. He'd gotten into a bad habit over the months of procrastinating and slacking off. He blinked away the tears that seemed to magically appear in his stinging eyes quickly so his 'Commander Handsome' (as some people in this headquarter liked to call this masculine man) wouldn't see him crying over being fired. Of being a big disappointment to the whole company.

"However, because I hope you'll pick yourself back up, I'm giving you one chance to prove that you've got what it takes to stay in this company." Erwin smirked a bit and Eren flinched a tad.

Eren stared at the tall, handsome man, hopeful that the task was something easy enough.

'_Damn it!' _he cursed himself. '_There's my goddamn slacking off side that got me into this whole fucking mess in the first place... Fuck!'_

"I'm sure you've heard of Titan Corporation."

Eren nodded. Oh deary, _everyone_ knew them. His own company, Recon Corps Transportation, is a transportation company specializing in air freight. They provide companies which have a contract with them airplanes, jets, that sort of stuff. Recon Corps also has some railway methods of transportation, but are best known for their air shipping. Recon Corps Transportation motto was very well known: "Fly with the Wings of Freedom. Fly with Recon Corps Transportation." God, _everyone_ knew that motto. Even seven-year-olds.

When Eren first started working for this company, he was best known for being able to convince other companies to sign a contract with them and have them use their transportation for any clients or necessities needing to be shipped. He scoffed a little in his mind.

But it wasn't like it was difficult. Recon Corps Transportation already has a pretty good reputation and millions of people around the world used their company for travelling or shipping. Convincing other companies to use them for their travelling necessities wasn't hard at all. Sometimes, the more stubborn companies had Eren staying the week in another city just to get them considering. Eren always succeeded in the end, proving to Erwin his great persuading and social abilities.

"Well, Titan Corporation, being the big company they are, refuses to sign a contract with us. Eren, I know you've been having trouble, reasons unknown to me and I will not pry, but I want you to travel to Japan and convince them to sign with us," Erwin proceeded to sit down in his sleek, black chair and stare at Eren.

Eren swore he heard his voice croak a little. He had never stepped a goddamn _foot_ outside of this country. It terrified him honestly. Not to mention that Titan Corporation was infamous for being stubborn and outright refusing other companies on contracts or offers of being conjoined. How on Earth was he supposed to get them to sign their stupid contract!? He couldn't even set his alarm right at night!

"Well, uh-um…" Eren stuttered, trying to get a straight answer out. The _hell_ was he supposed to do?! Refuse and lose his job, car, apartment or take the job head on and somehow salvage his job? The answer for some people would be obvious, but Eren had been so lost during the conversation.

'_Leaving Germany, the only country I've ever been in and trying to persuade some stubborn company to sign a stupid contract!? The fuck am I supposed to know what to do?' _Eren had all these thoughts mixed in his head and he couldn't form a coherent sentence, no less a real word, out of his glossy lips.

Erwin stared at him for several minutes as Eren continued to blabber and spout gibberish from his lips. After 5 agonizingly long and painful minutes passed (mainly for Eren), Erwin stood up and looked seriously at Eren, crossing his arms in the process.

"Will you do it, or will you get fired?"

Those words seemed to click something in Eren's mind and before he knew it, he was shouting "Yes! I'll do it!" into the air. Something in the back of Eren's mind made him automatically regret it.

Erwin graced a small smile upon his masculine features making Eren just a tad more uncomfortable than he already was. He looked down at Eren gently and patted the young man on his head full of brown, silky hair.

"Thank you, Eren. I know you'll do great." His smile seemed to widen a bit more and Eren felt like he had no choice but to grace a smile back. The smile felt so fake and his stomach made Eren feel queasy. He'd faked millions of smiles before but this one affected him the most. He didn't know why but maybe it was because he knew _exactly_ what he was getting himself into.

"You'll be leaving for Japan in 3 days. That's the earliest flight we have to Japan and I want you there as early as possible. However, there is a catch. You will be there only for a month. I want you to convince Titan Corporation to sign a contract with us in one month. I've paid for your hotel room and flight there and back. Anything else, you'll be paying for."

Eren felt his legs weaken a bit, his stomach felt more queasy, and his smile felt faker. However, he put on an even brighter smile just to please Erwin. He suddenly regretted saying yes. But he needed a job to pay for his apartment, car, bills, food, life, and basically everything that was keeping him alive. He really needed this…Did he want this? _Hell no._ But did he have a choice? Sure. But he sure as hell didn't feel like he had one.

The green eyed boy nodded slowly while he felt sweat dripping down his face, making him feel filthy and he wanted to take a shower and cleanse himself from the grotesque feel he felt from that fake smile, from that smile Erwin gave him, and just rot in that shower. And in relief, he turned around and _stormed_ out of that office.

As he rushed outside the office and into the main office he heard many of his friends pelting him with questions. He ignored them and headed to the elevator. That trip from floor God-knows-what to floor 104 felt like an eternity heading in the wrong direction.

The second he sat back down in his squeaky, cheap chair and stared at his now cold coffee, the thought echoed throughout his head the rest of the day.

'_What on Earth am I getting myself into?'_

He wrapped his fingers around the coffee mug and felt the stickiness from his throat disappear slightly from the cold, bitter coffee.

* * *

"Eren, you should've told him-"

"Mikasa, it's fi-"

"But he shouldn't be making you do all thi-"

"Mika-"

"Do you want me tell him you don't want to do this-"

"Mikasa!"

The voice on the other end of the line stopped. Eren sighed. He had to tell his sister about what was going on with him being fired and the fact he was leaving for another country and he should've known how she was going to react. He loved his sister to death, but he despised it when she got too protective of him, hated it when she'd rage if she found out someone had hurt her baby brother.

The attention and love was nice, but he swore she was gonna age very quickly because she had always put his well-being and life first. Even before hers. He wished she wouldn't do that. He wished she would focus more on herself and give herself the attention she needed.

She was the one who had gotten him the job at Recon Corps Transportation in the first place. But if she wasn't going to care for herself the way she cared for Eren, he'd care for her. He'd take care of her and show her love. No matter how old she got.

"Mikasa, it's really okay. You took the time out of your life to get me this job and I couldn't be more happier. Please, I don't want to throw away the opportunity you gave me to get my life up and running. It's only a month. I'll be back before you know it."

A sigh resigned from the end. It sounded tired and worn out. The amount of tiredness and exhaustion sent shivers down his spine and he couldn't help but pray she wasn't hurting herself. The way her voice sounded so dead and rotten made herself sound like she had just passed away.

He concentrated on a crack in the sidewalk. _'Maybe I'm looking too much into it. Yeah. That's it.' _

He knew Mikasa was a strong woman. She'd feel better in a couple days, and if she wasn't, she'd_ make_ herself feel better.

"Alright, Eren. But please be safe. I don't want to lose any more family…" The woman whispered that last sentence so hushed, Eren could barely hear it. But he heard it and he felt the sorrow coming from the other end of the phone.

"I swear to you, Mikasa. You'll never lose family again. We won't. I'll be there no matter what, okay? I promise."

Eren smiled for he could feel Mikasa smile slightly on the other end of the phone.

"Thank you, Eren. Since you'll be leaving in three days, I'll be glad to help you pack anything. If you need help please call me Eren. Oh, and don't forget to tell Armin. He's been our friend for ages. I'd feel terrible if-" Mikasa rambled on and on and Eren couldn't help but chuckle slightly. Mikasa would only be this talkative with him and Armin.

'_Always being the Mom.' _

Eren chuckled lightly, a puff of warm air emitting from his lips as the cold weather surrounded him. Mikasa would only talk like this with him or Armin. Mikasa loved them both deeply and Eren always made sure to let her know they loved her just as much back.

Eventually, they both hung up. Eren stood in the city streets, wrapping his coat around himself tighter. The weather was getting colder by the day and by the time he left for Japan, it would be snowing. He checked his phone quickly. It was already November and people already started wearing scarves, gloves, and boots.

'_I'd better leave before I get a cold.' _Eren pondered for a moment before clambering into his car parked in the car parking lot below the Recon Corps Transportation skyscraper. He shivered and squirmed in his seat to try to warm it up.

"Even the inside of my car is freezing," Eren huffed out, a light puff of breath flying into the air, and he started his worn-down car. It took him a couple flicks of his wrist to get his old car running but once it did, he automatically turned the heater on.

Sitting there for a few minutes, he felt his stomach churn at the thought of leaving Germany for Japan. He'd lived in this country for his whole life, never gone out of country or even out of town. He'd grown up in one neighborhood and that was it. He went to college near his town while his sister Mikasa went to her own college somewhere across the country. Sure, for jobs he went to different cities but even those cities were near where he grew up. It made him uncomfortable, but it wasn't like he was staying there for a whole _goddamn_ month!

Mikasa had gone across the whole country to go to a highly prestigious college for the very talented and she had even skipped some grades. Armin, dear God, was something not even human. His mind was somewhere in the clouds which were probably in space in another galaxy and Eren hated that. Eren didn't hate Armin or Mikasa for being so smart and talented. He hated himself.

"Ughhh…" he groaned as he shoved his face into his palms. '_I'm so stupid. Ugh.' _ If he wasn't so stupid, Mikasa wouldn't have had to get him a job at Recon and he wouldn't be sitting in a shitty car on the verge of tears parked in an empty lot. If he wasn't so idiotic, he wouldn't be getting on a plane for the first time in his life and travelling to some foreign place where his whole _fucking_ job was on the line.

"_Fuck!" _He whispered violently into his hands, shutting his eyes tightly so maybe his tears wouldn't cascade down his face. But they did. And he let them. He didn't try to wipe them, he didn't try to hold back his sobs, and he didn't try to feel miserable. But feeling miserable was the only emotion he felt in his stomach at the moment and he knew he had to get to his apartment.

Not bothering to wipe the tears, he quickly shifted his car into motion and drove into the busy street. He stared at the road and the lights. He didn't mind the horrible traffic. He didn't mind getting back to his apartment at midnight because the whole time he'd been clutching his stomach and groaned in agony at the amount of pain that it hurt. And to him, it felt good.

Made him feel like he was getting what he deserved. For being an idiot, for being a slacker, for getting his sister disappointed, and for suddenly realizing that he'd forgotten to tell Armin he was leaving.

Eren clutched his stomach even more when it shot an agonizing pain through his body. The young man hunched over, his other hand clutching the wheel of the car. Traffic was horrible and he wouldn't be going anywhere. He'd be sitting there, for hundreds of minutes, hunched over the wheel crying and groaning in pain.

The street light would turn green then red once more and every time it would turn red he'd feel sick. He wanted to go back home. But at the same time, he wanted to stay there getting what he thought he deserved. It hurt. It hurt alright. It hurt for hours on end and when he got back to his apartment, the young man with bright eyes collapsed onto the cold floor of his apartment.

Eren curled into a ball and as he drifted into the miserable side of himself, he couldn't help but let the waterfall of crystal tears fall into a puddle on the floor soaking his hair and face. He cried and cried that night, clenching his stomach that sent his body spiralling into agony and pain.

Two days left.

A/N: I know it's short, but I'll update as soon as I can. This will probably have +15 chapters, give or take. I hope you guys enjoyed the prologue for Eren. Next up comes Levi's. Please review, favorite, or follow. It's what drives me to write and the more reviews, the more chapters (and maybe smut) for you guys! Their relationship is very slow and I want to make sure you guys feel their emotion towards each other when they meet so I'll definitely be writing a lot about their thoughts and conversations with each other.

Like I said, please review! If you have a tumblr and you'd like to follow me on there to keep updates with the story my url is: .com

I'll put up a page soon for my fanfictions. I've tagged my story as #ereri and #riren.


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